Johannesburg - The department of International Relations and Cooperation’s (Dirco) consular services to South Africans in distress do not include financial assistance.
The clarification follows weeks of criticism of Dirco’s seeming inability to evacuate South Africans who were caught in the war in Ukraine or come to the aid of those languishing in prisons across the world.
But Dirco said it was the government’s policy, and many other governments across the world, to provide assistance in terms of travel documents and refuge in neighbouring countries like the situation in Ukraine.
This week, SA national Johan Nel took to social media to berate Dirco after he said he managed to flee Ukraine without any assistance from the SA government.
Nel, 25, said he remained in the Ukrainian capitol of Kyiv for three days after the invasion started before deciding to leave.
“The SA Embassy told me I needed to make my own evacuation plans. I met up with a Pakistani national and we tried to flee the city. It was chaos. We eventually took a taxi to the Polish border which cost us $500 (about R7 000) each. Even then, we still had to walk 30km to the border,” he said.
But Dirco spokesperson Clayson Monyela said people often complained, alleging that they didn't receive help because they expected financial assistance.
“The policy of government on Consular Services to South African nationals in distress abroad is non-financial. We have helped many and will continue to do so. We reiterate the call for travellers to always get travel insurance and alert South African embassies in foreign countries of their presence. This makes it easier to locate and offer them help,” he said.
Monyela also stressed that no South African was stuck in Ukraine and that those who were there had decided to remain either because they were married to a Ukrainian national, or ran a preschool and felt they could not leave the children.
“There is even a man who said he cannot leave his four dogs and so he’s staying. We managed to evacuate 34 students. The embassy in Ukraine is closed and the SA embassy did all it could to evacuate Saffers,” Monyela said.
Lorraine Blauw, based just outside Amsterdam, from the organisation We Are South Africans, which has been helping Saffers flee the war, said that when the bombs began to fall, they could not get hold of the SA embassy.
“I personally called ambassador (Andre) Groenewald to let him know that their emergency numbers were going unanswered and that their contact list on the website needed to be updated. I am currently assisting 25 South Africans and their families to apply for visas. In fact, most people did not even know who Groenewald was,” Blauw said.
Monyela said the Department of Home Affairs was expediting the travel documents of South Africans who now wished to leave Ukraine.
“It’s important to remember that it’s impossible for us to offer financial assistance. We can help with documents, contact your families and arrange with other countries to take you in. We have been working with NGOs to help people get evacuated,” he said.
Monyela said SA ambassadors went above and beyond the call of duty to help those caught in the war.
“Our ambassador, Nomvula Mngomezulu, based in Warsaw (Poland), drove for six hours to be at the Ukraine/Poland border to assist our nationals to cross into Poland. She was shuttling between eight gates for a period of seven days, sleeping in her car.
“In Hungary, Ambassador Ganga Tsengiwe, based in Budapest (Hungary), also had to move to the border area to do the same work.
“Our ambassador in Ukraine, Andre Groenewald, put his life and that of family at risk by staying and working even as the city was under attack. His and our objective was to ensure that South Africans are helped to get out of harm's way. He was the last to be evacuated after ensuring that our nationals that we had on our database had been assisted,” said Monyela.
Gilbert Martin, the founder of We are South Africans and The People of South Africa Foundation, said he has been working with Blauw to fly people back.
“Our foundation has paid for two students and one adult to return thus far, and about 50 more to come once DHA gets documents done,” he said.
Dirco’s Lunga Ngqengelele said private companies were helping distressed fellow South Africans get back home.
“It is the call we have made on several occasions that those who can assist must come forward and work with the government,” Ngqengelele said.
“We ask them to contact our consular services on 0123511000 or [email protected] so that we can know about them and see where we can assist within the confines of the law.
”If there are South Africans out there who think we didn't live up to their expectations, we apologise but we always try under trying circumstances and hope our appeal to all South Africans who travel abroad to register with our embassies will heeded by all so that we can be able to.assist them during difficult times.”
Monyela said that only the Cabinet could make a decision to evacuate Saffers in distress, like in the case when a plane was sent to China to evacuate citizens after the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak.
Home Affairs spokesperson Siyabulela Qoza said there was a willingness to assist in expediting all applications for birth registration as well as passports and emergency travel certificates.
“There is a consular service at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation that was mandated specifically to deal with applications from the Ukraine. It receives applications and escalates these to the Department of Home Affairs which then expedites such applications.
“The department has an arrangement with the SA ambassador in Ukraine, Honourable Groenewald, that South Africans in Ukraine, where necessary, will be issued with Emergency Travel Certificates which are approved within days of receipt of such applications, which are sent through email,” he said.